Post by 50yardfan on May 6, 2010 13:29:13 GMT -5
UFL: Omaha team named Nighthawks
By Jon Nyatawa
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Omaha's new professional football squad finally has a nickname, and maybe a rudimentary team philosophy to go along with it.
You may now call them the Nighthawks.
The United Football League officially announced the team name Wednesday afternoon, roughly 3½ weeks after unveiling Omaha as the league's fifth franchise.
A nighthawk is most commonly known as a medium-sized bird that hunts flying insects at dusk and dawn. And actually, some refer to those covert winged predators as Bugeaters, one of the early nicknames for the Nebraska Cornhusker football team.
The U.S. Air Force's F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter jet draws its name from the preying bird, likely because of the subtle attack method similarities.
Omaha coach Jeff Jagodzinski already has copied and pasted a picture of the aircraft to his personal computer's background screen. He's ready to start surprising people.
“It's absolutely perfect. I love it,” said Jagodzinski, who was in Omaha on Wednesday to begin promoting the UFL team. “It was a name that was given to us from the fans. Really, really cool.”
The UFL hosted a name-the-team contest on its website for 11 days, inviting potential supporters to vote for a nickname. More than 9,000 entries were received.
Fans had four predetermined options: Navigators, Mustangs, Stags and Spirit. Or participants could create and submit their own creative choice.
The Nighthawks proved to be the winner.
“I'm not sure who came up with it,” Jagodzinski said, “but it sounds great to me.”
Jagodzinski said the plan is for the Nighthawks to wear black jerseys and black helmets. He'd like the complementary colors to be silver and white, though that hasn't been approved.
Really, Jagodzinski is more concerned with how his team plays than looks, but if it's possible to convey a sleek, spy-like theme through the uniforms' design, that would be ideal. He's already generating ideas for using the new nickname as a starting point for his team's mission statement.
Nighthawks have to operate swiftly and unexpectedly to snatch insects. As the league's newest team, Omaha might have to be that way on the field, Jagodzinski said.
“That's it. We're going to stay under the radar,” he said. “And then, here we come. You won't know it until the thing's kicked off.”
The UFL season begins this fall. The Nighthawks have a bye week before opening with a home game against Hartford on Sept. 24 at Rosenblatt Stadium.
Until then, Jagodzinski has plenty of work to do.
He's still rounding out his 10-man staff. The Nighthawks' roster totals about 40 players, but Jagodzinski is not done adding.
The team will host a one-day tryout session May 15 at Omaha Central.
Then two more soon after — one in Chicago and one in an undetermined location in Texas. The UFL draft is scheduled for next month.
That's a heavy workload for Jagodzinski, but the enthusiastic coach doesn't mind.
He was fired from Boston College after interviewing for a job with the New York Jets in January 2009.
Then, just days before the last NFL season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired Jagodzinski from his offensive coordinator position.
So it's safe to say that Jagodzinski is itching to coach again. And announcements such as Wednesday's — when the UFL unveils Nighthawks as Omaha's nickname — just get Jagodzinski that much more excited to get started.
“These guys that are playing, they're not playing for money. They're playing because they love the game,” he said. “You talk about team passion.
“This is a win-win for everybody, the city, the league. It couldn't be a better spot.”
www.omaha.com/article/20100505/SPORTS/705069993/-1#ufl-omaha-team-named-nighthawks
By Jon Nyatawa
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Omaha's new professional football squad finally has a nickname, and maybe a rudimentary team philosophy to go along with it.
You may now call them the Nighthawks.
The United Football League officially announced the team name Wednesday afternoon, roughly 3½ weeks after unveiling Omaha as the league's fifth franchise.
A nighthawk is most commonly known as a medium-sized bird that hunts flying insects at dusk and dawn. And actually, some refer to those covert winged predators as Bugeaters, one of the early nicknames for the Nebraska Cornhusker football team.
The U.S. Air Force's F-117A Nighthawk stealth fighter jet draws its name from the preying bird, likely because of the subtle attack method similarities.
Omaha coach Jeff Jagodzinski already has copied and pasted a picture of the aircraft to his personal computer's background screen. He's ready to start surprising people.
“It's absolutely perfect. I love it,” said Jagodzinski, who was in Omaha on Wednesday to begin promoting the UFL team. “It was a name that was given to us from the fans. Really, really cool.”
The UFL hosted a name-the-team contest on its website for 11 days, inviting potential supporters to vote for a nickname. More than 9,000 entries were received.
Fans had four predetermined options: Navigators, Mustangs, Stags and Spirit. Or participants could create and submit their own creative choice.
The Nighthawks proved to be the winner.
“I'm not sure who came up with it,” Jagodzinski said, “but it sounds great to me.”
Jagodzinski said the plan is for the Nighthawks to wear black jerseys and black helmets. He'd like the complementary colors to be silver and white, though that hasn't been approved.
Really, Jagodzinski is more concerned with how his team plays than looks, but if it's possible to convey a sleek, spy-like theme through the uniforms' design, that would be ideal. He's already generating ideas for using the new nickname as a starting point for his team's mission statement.
Nighthawks have to operate swiftly and unexpectedly to snatch insects. As the league's newest team, Omaha might have to be that way on the field, Jagodzinski said.
“That's it. We're going to stay under the radar,” he said. “And then, here we come. You won't know it until the thing's kicked off.”
The UFL season begins this fall. The Nighthawks have a bye week before opening with a home game against Hartford on Sept. 24 at Rosenblatt Stadium.
Until then, Jagodzinski has plenty of work to do.
He's still rounding out his 10-man staff. The Nighthawks' roster totals about 40 players, but Jagodzinski is not done adding.
The team will host a one-day tryout session May 15 at Omaha Central.
Then two more soon after — one in Chicago and one in an undetermined location in Texas. The UFL draft is scheduled for next month.
That's a heavy workload for Jagodzinski, but the enthusiastic coach doesn't mind.
He was fired from Boston College after interviewing for a job with the New York Jets in January 2009.
Then, just days before the last NFL season, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers fired Jagodzinski from his offensive coordinator position.
So it's safe to say that Jagodzinski is itching to coach again. And announcements such as Wednesday's — when the UFL unveils Nighthawks as Omaha's nickname — just get Jagodzinski that much more excited to get started.
“These guys that are playing, they're not playing for money. They're playing because they love the game,” he said. “You talk about team passion.
“This is a win-win for everybody, the city, the league. It couldn't be a better spot.”
www.omaha.com/article/20100505/SPORTS/705069993/-1#ufl-omaha-team-named-nighthawks